Radiohead AmpLive 'Rainyday Remixes'

As with most of the music community, we here at LMB are anxiously waiting for the remainder of Radiohead’s tour to be scheduled. Our own Whitperson showed that there are still a number of wonderful US cities that are still without confirmed dates, including Chicago (ahem, cough, cough…Lollapalooza). In order to hold you over until that day arrives, I stumbled across a nice group of remixes from Radiohead’s latest album, In Rainbows. A few months back DJ/Producer AmpLive released a remix of “Weird Fishes,” which was a part of a larger remix project. Stereogum.com posted them on the site and I listened to the point of weariness. The project was shut down due to legal issues, most notably because AmpLive did not receive permission from Radiohead to publicly release the songs. As of late last week, though, Radiohead has given permisssion for the songs to be used.

Now the entire remix project, Rainyday Remixes, is available online for free. AmpLive has done an excellent job of maintaining the original integrity of Radiohead’s music while adding his own sound and creative touch. Remixing Radiohead cannot be an easy task, and that’s not including the attention that the songs will automatically get. Immediately, the thought and details behind the remixes stood out to me. The help from Del tha Funkee Homosapien and Chali 2na is solid, but the tracks that they’re featured on aren’t even the strongest in the mix.

Two of the remixes that really stand out farther for me are “Weird Fishes” and “15 Steps.” The “Weird Fishes” version couples Thom Yorke’s chorus with a really nice backbeat that is almost the stripped down version of the drums on the original track. Anyone who is a fan of the Easy Star All-Stars album, Radiodread will definitely dig the “15 Steps” remix. Featuring the San Fran based soul singer Codany Holiday, the track moves between a heavier rock sound and a quasi-dubstep beat. And to top it off, the cover art is seriously nice.

P.S. — To all you NPR listeners out there, Thom Yorke DJ’ed “All Songs Considered” today with Bob Boilen. You can listen to the entire show on the NPR Music website. Enjoy!